Trials of the State: Law and the Decline of Politics is a 2019 book by UK author, historian, former Justice of the UK Supreme Court, and current Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, in which the content of his BBC's Reith Lectures have been published in book form.[1] Sumption's lectures were delivered in front of a studio audience and were followed by question and answer sessions. Sumption used transcriptions of these lectures (with some notable changes) to prepare the book.[2]
 First edition | |
| Author | Jonathan Sumption |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Politics |
| Publisher | Profile Books, London |
Publication date | 29 August 2019 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 128 |
| ISBN | 1-788-16372-9 |
| 340.115 | |
The central thesis of the book is Sumption's argument that in recent years, judicial law has undermined legislation and political process. This is because he argues that in political realms, rather than in courts, there is more accountability, especially from the public.[3]
In the book, Sumption expresses his concern that judges can be allowed to circumvent parliamentary legislation and can review the merits of policy decisions, and the trouble with giving judges this power is they are not constitutionally accountable to anyone for what they do. In his view, this is particularly problematic when it comes to human rights laws, which "transforms controversial political issues into questions of law for the Courts. In this way it takes critical decision-making powers out of the political process’.[4]
References
edit- ^ Grant, Thomas (16 August 2019). "Trials of the State by Jonathan Sumption review — judging the judges". The Times. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ Sedley, Stephen (12 September 2019). "A Boundary Where There Is None". London Review of Books. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
- ^ Birkinshaw, Patrick (2020). "Review Article – Jonathan Sumption, Trials of the State". Amicus Curiae. 2. 1 (3): 459–475. doi:10.14296/ac.v1i3.5167.
- ^ Petley, Giannoulopoulos, Julian, Dimitrios (10 June 2019). "Attacks on Grieve and Bercow stem from flawed, feudal ideas of 'sovereignty'". Retrieved 17 September 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links
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